Khushi Bajpai
Published on: September 22, 2022 at 21:44 IST
The Allahabad High Court convicted former UP MLA Mukhtar Ansari to seven years in prison today after finding him guilty of harassing a prison guard in 2003 by assaulting him, brandishing a handgun or pistol in his direction, and threatening to murder him.
With that, the Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh-led panel overturned the acquittal decision made in favour of Ansari by the Special Judge, M.P./M.L.A., Additional Sessions Judge, Lucknow in the year 2020, noting that the trial court’s method of assessing the available evidence was demonstrably flawed.
The court noted that Ansari pointed a gun in the direction of the jailer with the goal to stop and hinder him from performing his job as a jailer.
As a result, the court determined that he had violated Section 353 IPC. Also, the court found him guilty of committing the offense under Sections 504 and 506 of the IPC.
The location of the incident, the presence of the accused there, the complainant’s attendance, and the presence of the fact-finders are all undisputed, the court stated at the outset.
The court also took notice of Ansari’s reputation as the most feared criminal and mafia don, with more than 60 incidents of horrible crimes to his name.
The accused did not cross-examine the complainant (the jailer) on that day, and the Right of Cross Examination was closed, the court continued. The complainant’s (jailer) examination was finished in December 2003.
Meanwhile, the complainant got retired soon, and after 10 years, an application was filed under Section 311 CrPC by the accused to recall the complainant again.
Consequently, analyzing the evidence brought on record, the court said that it is proved that Ansari used criminal force by pointing a pistol towards him with the intent to prevent and deter the complainant from discharging his duty as a jailer and finally convicted him under Sections 353, 504, and 506 of IPC.
